Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Before time got away from me I wanted to post a first-look at the Audi Keyboard solution I recently spearheaded for the Melbourne Motorshow (02 March to 12 March 2007). The basic concept involves a Samsung Q1UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) as a device used to capture details of visitors to the Audi stand.

A custom made software keyboard was developed in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and designed using Expression Blend. Its purpose was to allow stand attendants to enter information in a natural way (with a QWERTY keyboard) and with the added benefit of custom functions like a key for ".com.au", and Audi branding. Tegatech Australia (the Tablet guys), Dr Neil Roodyn and UK interaction design firm Tricky Business collaborated on the project to bring it to fruition.

This is a great example of how XAML provides the glue to allow developers and designers to work together - exactly why Microsoft came up with it in the first place.

Thank you for your comment. I believe Microsoft, via Vista, have made tremendous headway on Speech Recognition software. It has been covered in several blogs but you might want to look at Long Zheng's post, or Craig Pringle's for more info.

You raise a good point and one that Microsoft is diligently addressing via it Accessibility program and more.

BTW, I believe you tried to ping me on skype but we must have just missed each other. Sorry. I replied to your query but Skype does not store offline emssages like Messenger does. If you see me online again just ping me again and I will be happy to provide whatever assistance I can.

Regrettably I need to admit that the TabletKiosk EO V7110 is a poor Vista experience. The best bet is to read and contact Darryl Burling. He is a friend of mine and an Evangelist for Microsoft in New Zealand. He is also one of the only people I know that has gone full time Vista on an EO V7110, and stayed there.

"It works great. I've got 1gb of Ram, and the slower HDD, so if you have the faster 7200 RPM Drive you'll be sweet.

The driver setup is a bit nasty, but follow the instructions on my blog and you should be OK: Link

Vista has vastly improved tablet support including:

· Much better handwriting recognition· Smarter TIP (Tablet Input Panel)· Support for touch screens – it has a nice mouse you can move with your finger

I normally leave my EO on hibernate mode when I’m not using it, startup/shutdown is more bearable that way.

It’s no slower than XP on the same hardware, and has better features. I couldn’t go back to XP now.

The biggest issue at the moment is that the chipset drivers prevent the CPU reducing the frequency of the CPU which means the CPU is always running at 100% frequency. VIA will be releasing an update though as far as I understand it. The only other thing is the rubber pointer doesn’t support tap to click under Vista – otherwise it works as normal.

The RAM will fit and run too. THe only problem is that you will have no speed benefits as the RAM slot fitted to the motherboard will peak at 533MHz. The only benefit I can see is that perhaps the 667MHz RAM might be cheaper to buy.

Have you seen the Samsung Q1 at any of the US auto shows? The Audi of America Data Capture team has created a virtual tour of the launch vehicles TT and R8 last year. They were used at all major US auto show starting with Los Angeles in December 2006. Not only do prospects get a virtual tour of both the R8 and TT, they can also opt-in for more information. Audi has also used the devices at ALMS races to gather additional serious prospect opt-ins, while supporting the launch vehicles and generating buzz.

Why would you build it using Microsoft suite? You can build a fully functional flash keyboard in an hour and integrate into a variety of flash movies. It appears that all you really built is a keyboard app with a static picture. If I was Audi I would think I got ripped off.

As far as I know this program will not be made available as it was designed specifically for Audi. THere are several keyboards on the amrket however the reason we went into development with this one was that most of them have "too much" function. Audi needed far less features.

Try Googling for "Software Keyboard." TO find on that suits. Keep watching the blog as the Audi one may be released at some point - never say never.

"Why would you build it using Microsoft suite? You can build a fully functional flash keyboard in an hour and integrate into a variety of flash movies. It appears that all you really built is a keyboard app with a static picture. If I was Audi I would think I got ripped off. "

Thanks for your feedback. I can't help but think that you didn't even watch the video! The picture is not the keyboard - it is a marketing picture. The video shows that the keyboard has function.

Before you get too excited lets look at why we didn't use flash. "Keystrokes" are a base level (root access) command. Third party application (other than from the MS Suite) all treat keystrokes as a gesture and therefore carry caching issues. With Windows Presentation Foundation we were able to mimyc the Tablet Input Panel and its "keystroke" commands to better take command of the Operating System.

If you need more info I am happy to keep chatting - if you're after a blog to bask Microsoft and promote Flash, well I think I'll run out of answers for you as I am mostly a hardware guy.

Great comment - up until recently I had no idea that Audi had attemtpted anything globally regarding Lead Capture. I too am exctied about their efforts and think that they show themselves as truly progressive don't they. I knew that in Australia they went from Pen and Paper to PDA, and now to UMPC. So it means they are really passionate about this.